Me Swim Pretty One Day
(with apologies to David Sedaris)

Best of the TI Forum

Topic: Personal Success through helping others
Conf: Freestyle
From: Ron Bear
Date: Friday, December 08, 2006 10:02 PM

I swim pretty.

I swim so pretty that perfect strangers compliment my stroke. “You’ve got a pretty glide.” Or “Don’t you ever breathe?” They also ask how they could swim like that. So I tell them about TI and that I practice instead of training. So now there’s a growing group at my pool who have TI DVDs because they want to swim like me. How cool is that?

Here’s the rub: While folks seem impressed by my leisurely warm-up of 4 x 50 meters at 21 strokes, no one is impressed by my speed. It doesn’t bother me that I’m as good at low speed as at low strokes. After all, I devoted a year and a half to stroke building exercises and ignoring the pace clock. I’ve only focused on speed for a few months. I’m making steady progress, so a year from now I’ll really rock!

It’s just a little frustrating that I know I have the ability to add more energy to my swimming, but I lack the skill to turn that energy into speed instead of bigger waves. I’d been stuck for a while at a swim golf score of about 90 (23 and 67 seconds) for a 50-meter pool length. I’d have been pleased if by increasing to 50 strokes I could go as fast as 40 seconds and at least keep the score the same. Instead, at 50 strokes it takes me 52 seconds.

But one day I was talking to two of the guys who ordered TI books and DVDs because of me. One of them mentioned how Terry writes that your hand should exit the water where it enters. Both admitted that they didn’t understand how to even attempt this. I explained that while I can’t yet do it either, I felt myself moving toward that ideal when I swim with my whole body. I get my momentum from rhythmic rolling with the pulling hand just easing me along.

That’s when the epiphany hit. When I try to swim fast, I move my arms faster instead of moving my body faster. More Pull not More Core. My last three practices have been awesome – all because I explained a key concept to someone else. The very first night I tried this I concentrated on an energetic plunge of the reaching hand while holding a “big armful” of water. I got a speed PR of :48 in 42 strokes and then repeated it.

Last night I concentrated on more powerful core rotation and SMASHED my old golf PR of 87. I had only achieved that twice before on separate nights. Last night I golfed 3 x 86 and 2 x 85! The 85s were 33 strokes at 52 seconds and 35 strokes at 50 seconds. I know I was doing something right, because tonight I was a little sore in the core from using those muscles last night. I concentrated on matching the core energy to the plunge energy and it really felt integrated.

Wow! I crafted this post in my head as I drove home from my practice tonight, but the ending just changed. My wife just asked me what I was doing and of course I told her. She then showed me my Christmas present. She ordered TI’s new DVDs on the other strokes. How cool is that? I’ve got three new strokes to learn.

Ron Bear
Student of Swimming.

From: Steve Kelly
Date: Saturday, December 09, 2006 11:25 AM

I’ve been attending meets at the local high school this year to study trained and motivated swimmers. Almost every freestyler churns their arms in a surge of power and speed to get to the far wall first. Seeing this first-hand has really helped me understand what makes a pulling emphasis inefficient. It’s not a lack of power. It’s not a lack of movement speed. It’s that if the hands accelerate faster than the core can respond, they lose traction. No amount of feathering or realignment can overcome the loss of traction.

My focus has now shifted to paying more attention to feeling pressure on the hand and rolling the body. If done slowly enough and coordinated with the natural rhythm of the body the gain in efficiency is instantaneous and exciting. And it translates naturally into speed.

From: Tony
Date: Saturday, December 09, 2006 04:46 PM

I've always admired – somewhat jealously, truth be told – from afar those few swimmers who just caress their way across the pool. There hardly seems a drop of water out of place, and it's like with every stroke they pull a rabbit out of a hat, leaving their audience spellbound. And then, when I pan the focus out a bit, it's amazing how fast these graceful swans are moving relative to others in the lane. One thing has always struck me when watching such types. Seemingly slow hands but fast bodies. Like you mention Steve, it's exactly opposite how so many of us swim instinctively. It's a pity those kids aren’t being taught to reroute those instincts. Just think how awesome they’d be – how awesome we all would be – if we could connect that energy in the most productive, coordinated way.

One day...

Read more on this topic in an excerpt from Extraordinary Swimming for Every Body.

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